Building a Community Schoolyard: It’s All Collaboration
Today is the first day back at school for the Scranton School District, and kids at John G. Whittier Elementary are seeing their new Community Schoolyard come to life. Prime contractor Stafursky Paving has been diligently working over the summer to transform this formerly muddy lot into three-tiered mini-park for play.
What the kids may not know is how much adult collaboration, good will, and problem-solving is needed for this kind of project to succeed.
The collaboration process actually started with the kids at the school. In 2023, VIM’s Alyssa Kelley led then-second graders in participatory design classes to create new schoolyard plans. The kids reviewed responses from 108 surveys filled out by parents, teachers, and fellow students. They summarized 174 responses collected from neighbors at a community event. They not only measured, discussed, and budgeted, they thought about how this space would serve others that came after them.
In other words, these kids learned how to be civic leaders. In second grade.
The kids also learned about the environmental impact of their work. In a field trip to Nay Aug Park, they learned how water runoff at their school affects pollution levels in the Lackawanna River. The robust underground stormwater management system at the Community Schoolyard not only protects their neighborhood, but the Chesapeake Bay, hundreds of miles downstream.
Excavation and construction experts, Stafursky has been a model partner. Professional, fast, and clear-thinking, they have worked hard to get the kids their new play space as soon as possible. When they hit bedrock partway through the excavation phase, they were unfazed. They were ready with a plan and quickly pivoted to it.
They were grateful for the cooperation of the neighbors. Digging through bedrock is loud! The neighbors’ patience will soon be rewarded, as one of the benefits of the completed Community Schoolyard is that it will be open to them after school hours.
The Whittier maintenance team has also been an essential collaborator, coordinating on a daily basis to keep the project moving forward. They can’t wait for the new playground. The poor drainage at this site meant that kids in prior years couldn’t use the area for recess for days after rain or snow. Kids tracked so much mud into the school that the maintenance team couldn’t keep up.
Watching the kids’ design come to life has been a joy. Their conceptual design called for play equipment, open space for ball-playing, gardens, a track, and places to sit and step away. The architect’s final design transformed the sloped site into three different zones, creating level areas for play equipment and the field, and connecting them via slides and a climbing wall. I can’t wait to see how the kids use the space.
Educational components were integrated into the design. Native plants ring the site’s edge, with canopy trees along an ADA-accessible ramp. A rain garden collects water near an outdoor classroom, allowing excess rain to slowly absorb into the surrounding soils. These features bring new nature learning opportunities to a census tract that the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool identifies as disadvantaged: highly exposed to lead, with excessive wastewater discharge, heat island affects, and lacking a mature tree canopy.
For this reason, the federal Environmental Protection Agency provided VIM with a Thriving Communities grant that made this project possible. We also could not have done it without the City of Scranton’s commitment of American Rescue Plan Act funds, and the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. Other crucial private funders include the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Willary Foundation, Hawk Family Foundation, Scranton Area Community Foundation, Robert H. Spitz Foundation, and PPL Electric Utilities.
We are forever grateful for Trust for Public Land for bringing the Community Schoolyards model to Scranton, managing the program, and guiding VIM staff along the way. The Scranton School District has been a terrific partner during the whole process, as well as the City of Scranton. Philadelphia-based AKRF provided the final design and expertly manage the construction process.
Do you want to see more Community Schoolyards in the Lackawanna Valley? We could be doing less ambitious playground projects, but why? Community collaboration is an outcome in itself. Our kids deserve the kind of spaces that spur imagination, education, and civic duty.
If you are as inspired as I am by these projects, please partner with us and contribute to VIM. If you wish, you can specify that funds go directly to more Community Schoolyards in our area.
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